Biography

Prof. Dr. Ricardo Eichmann was the director of the Orient Department of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin between 1996-2021. Since 1998 he is co-editor of Studien zur Musikarchäologie (Studies in Music Archaeology). His research interests include music archaeology of the Near East and Egypt and building research in the Near East.

Project Abstract

Audible Temporality: How Time is Structured in—and through—Music

The project investigates the ways time is understood in antiquity by reconstructing  music ensembles and conducting tests using modern reproductions and  replicas of selected ancient musical instruments from different regions,  based on their supposed sound structures and historic performance  contexts. 

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Curriculum vitae

Education

PhD (1984), Prehistory, Classical Archaeology and Egyptology, Heidelberg University. 

Fellowships and Positions

1996−2021 

Director and Professor at Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (German Archaeological Institute), Oriental Department, Berlin

2012−2017

Archaeological field work in the South of Qatar in cooperation with the Qatar Museums (QM), Doha

2009

Teaching at the Berlin University of the Arts on "Musical instruments from archaeological contexts"

2009

Honorary doctorate from Union of Arab Historians, Institute for Arabian History and Cultural Heritage, Baghdad

Since 2008

Excavations at Wuqro/Ethiopia in collaboration with Prof. Dr.  Norbert Nebes (Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena), Dr. Pawel Wolf  (Berlin) and Tigrai Commission for Tourism and Culture

2007−2019

Member of the Excellence Cluster Topoi, Berlin 

Since 2004

Archaeological field work in cooperation with the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) at Tayma/Saudi Arabia

2003−2015

Teaching at Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena

Since 1998

Co-organizer of international Conferences on Music archaeology and co-editor of Studien zur Musikarchäologie (Studies in Music Archaeology)

1995−1996

Professor for Near Eastern Archaeology, Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen

1989−1994

Researcher at Deutsches Archäologisches Instituts, Baghdad Department (Berlin)

1984−1989

Research assistant at Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Baghdad  department (Berlin)